Western Humanities Advice

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I am neither on this course because I love the humanities; it is a very interesting subject that will never bore me. I love art, culture, and music. The history enhances our understanding of the cultures we thought we knew and the societies that we have today. What I don't like is that due to my schedule I had to take it online. Having already taken a humanities class in person, the online version is much more difficult since you have to do all the learning on your own. In class, the discussions are better, and the personal insights from the teacher really help to solidify main points. Through the online version, you miss the "indigenous knowledge" your classmates have to share, and main ideas take more work to come to on your own.

Course highlights:

The Cultural Experience is a highlight for me because this course requires you to experience art in person, and using the knowledge that you have gained, describe your experience and insights. It gives us the opportunity to use our knowledge in a practical way. I have learned that the humanities are all around us. People have never really changed either. Yes, different eras brought about contrasting styles, but no matter the social norms of the day, people had similar experiences as we do today. People have always used the arts to express themselves just as we do now. The biggest difference between us and our ancestors are our innovations of technology.

Hours per week:

6-8 hours

Advice for students:

The only way this course works out is if you allow yourself plenty of time to work ahead and do the readings. Yes, the readings are unnecessarily long, but everything, the discussion prompts, essays and quizzes all stem from what you have read. It is hard to know what is the most important especially when the readings are so long, so I would discourage skimming too much without a good understanding of the content. I have loved using the online textbook version so much because I can listen to the readings and take notes at the same time. It still takes a while, but it saves me so much time.